NO3 problem : try this

[texc4]

Hello tonyespinoza
Like this :


Thanks to my friend RicoBueno to share this High quality photo
The best way to add carbon like vodka is to use an automatic doser ( I hope it's the good word ) like Grotech or other. You can see on the picture the transparent tube, it is the vodka "IN".
Have a good night!

[chaderic26]

Is this not a DIY Deltec nitrate reactor??

[texc4]

Hi,

We know Deltec reactor,
Circulation is reverse? The pump push down the water, media is different but they use vodka like this denitrator. Effluent rate possible is more important here. In Deltec Reactor, the reactor is full of ???? Not here.

This is the NFP5

[chaderic26]

Same principal yes? Different media same purpose of culturing bacteria?

What's the difference in effluent rate and reversed circulation?

[texc4]

GeoffM1968
Hello,
I don't want to speak about nutrients and zeolith here, it's an other subject. Drive and export nutrients is possible only with a big flow rate reactor. Do you see the pump on this reactor, it's a small pump ( 250l/h ). In this case, we don't reduce nutrients, we use zeolith only to keep bacteria in.

[GeoffM1968]

Thank you

[texc4]

Hi chaderic26
I think bacterias at the end are same but can we be sure about?
The media seems to be like Seachem Matrix but I don't know. So the media they use can support a biggest flow rate inside the reactor, it's not zeolith. ( see my post about nutrients ). Zeolith reduce nutrients with a big flow rate and we don't want do that in a denitrator.

[texc4]

Tonyespinosa said :

"so on a total volume of 700g (2,650 L) would you recommend running multiple reactors with the same proportion. i presume your total water volume is 750 L?"

Hi,
I don't know, but if I have to do, I buid multiple reactors. Its just because it's more easy to find diameter 100mm and little pumps. And if you have only one and it's out of order....

[tonyespinoza]

might the media eventually clog? how long have you been running this?

[tntneon]

Originally posted by texc4
Oh, I see tntneon, you are in "Hollande", beautiful country!

thx, but i have rather have the weather of france (especialy the south)
this summer we go there on vacation ...we love it.

The introduction of carbon is clear to me now , you can inject it in the t-piece with a medical syringe(without the needle) oxgen free into the reaktor.

Nice reaktor set up you made texc4 , for the moment i have no no3 issues and i do the wodka methode , but i`m planning to have more fish and thus bioload and then could it be a nice
addition to my system , learning a lot here...

please post results of waterparameters when your further in time
if you will.

greetingzz tntneon

[texc4]

Tonyespinoza said :
"might the media eventually clog? how long have you been running this?"

The zeolith clogs when we use an heavy pump ( 2nd prototype ).

[texc4]

tntneon :
Yes the south is beautiful. We will go to Collioure this summer.
Yes you can inject it in the t-piece with a medical syringe, one of my friends do that but do not inject O2 is a little difficult.

Why use this type of denitration: when the living stones of your aquarium is too old, when you do not have the amount of necessary living stone, when you have a sharp rise in NO3. What is interesting is that this reactor also provides bacteriological plankton that is consumed by the corals. Just try it

Don't use sugar or vinegar to feed this reactor, don't mix with vodka. But I will try to bring amino acids inside the reactor in the futur. We think it'a way of investigation. Of course, we keep vodka.

Regards

[Genetics]

Instead of buying zeolite, could someone use a cheaper substrate for bacterial growth such as carbon granules?

Have you tried using sugar in substitution to vodka?

How do you have the recirculating plumbed so you can add vodka without taking the canister apart?

South France is very nice. Netherlands is a very beautiful region. Windmills give it a distinction that separates it from the rest of the world.

[texc4]

Hi,

I tried with a friend clay balls but the results are so so ...
Sugar source is difficult to stock many days in the warm, some bacterias seems to grow in the bottle after 15 - 20 days for me and my setup.

Please, what is the meaning of "canister", sorry

[Genetics]

Canister = bottle that is cylindrical. Essentially, the bottle you are describing.

[texc4]

Thanx Nate for "canister"
Ok, see the second photo, there is a "T". the transparent tube brings vodka in the "IN" line.

I hope it's the answer to your question.

So, you must have a free water volume in the reactor to respect this 3 parameters :

- bacterias on the zeolith
- bacterias in the zeolith
- bacterias free in the water reactor

I have forgotten this :
The tube which return water to the reactor must have a bend to give a rotary motion. Thus, water in the reactor is running, which improves the movement of water and avoid areas without movement.

[tntneon]

Originally posted by Genetics
Instead of buying zeolite, could someone use a cheaper substrate for bacterial growth such as carbon granules?
....

this is something very intresting , does the carbon granules be a source of food for the bacteria ?
if so you could mix the zeolite with some carbon or am i wrong ?

greetingzz tntneon

[texc4]

Hello tntneon,

No, you must use like this. We try many things about media, many carbon source, many things. The best result is here.

Carbon source is just vodka in this case.

[Genetics]

tntneon, you can't use granulated carbon for food. I just figured one could use carbon granules to save on the price for the zeolites.

[texc4]

The best way to drive this denitrator is to use a redox meter. Values to keep are -50 to -100. But this equipment is very expensive. So, this values are OK when you have 1 drop / sec and you feed 2ml/day of mix vodka with RO water ( 25% 75%). When you dose 2ml of 100% vodka, rH is near -150. It's correct but very low when we know that -200 is dangerous. The best way to feed the reactor (bacteria) is split as much as possible 2 ml. For example, on my machine, I do 4 x 0.50 ml.

[tntneon]

ok ,
I understand now , awsome that you did so many test on your reactor texc4 , measuring redox potential and that sort of stuff,
nice , stuff a dream of buying in the future when a go for a bigger tank.

greetingzz tntneon

[tonyespinoza]

Thanks for all the details! Are you saying that the return tube must have a bend INSIDE the reactor to create a particular flow pattern? I have an extra dosing pump on my aquatronica I could use...

Will the bacteria also consume PO4 as well as NO3?

[texc4]

Tonyespinoza :
Are you saying that the return tube must have a bend INSIDE the reactor to create a particular flow pattern : yes
Glue a bend to make a rotate flow inside the reactor like this :

[texc4]

Tonyespinoza :
Will the bacteria also consume PO4 as well as NO3?

I don't know about PO4 because all tests were realised in a reeftank with not detectable PO4.

Perhaps, I don't know. If vodka dosing in the display can, why not ? But in the display, there is O2 and lot of light, not in the reactor...

[texc4]

Hello,

If someone built this denitrator can t give it news please ?

Thanks a lot!